An almost infinite array of automated tools exist to spider and mirror application content, extract confidential material, brute force guess authentication credentials, discover code-injection flaws, fuzz application variables for exploitable overflows, scan for common files or vulnerable CGI's, and generally attack or exploit web-based application flaws. While of great value to security professionals, the use of these tools by attackers represents a clear and present danger to all organizations.

These automated tools have become increasingly popular for attackers seeking to compromise the integrity of online applications, and are used during most phases of an attack. Whilst there are a number of defense techniques which, when incorporated into a web-based application, are capable of stopping even the latest generation of tools, unfortunately most organizations have failed to adopt them.

This whitepaper examines techniques which are capable of defending applications against these tools; providing advice on their particular strengths and weaknesses and proposing solutions capable of stopping the next generation of automated attack tools.